The Garden Goddess

Anchor: Sulane Blackford

Sponsor: Jacques Flower Shop

Browse the Garden Goddess segment archives.

The Garden Goddess gives us weekly insights into not just tending to our gardens, but has some great ideas on what we can put in them, especially stuff we can eat!

Speaking of eat, Sulane comes in each week with tasty dishes from the garden, hot, fresh and right off the grill!  She shares the recipes, which often feature one of the plants she’s brought to our attention, and the Humble Host makes it sound OOOHHH sooo good while devouring them!  Be sure to tune in!

About Sulane Blackford:

Sulane Blackford, “The Garden Goddess,” has been living, learning, and sharing her passion for the garden for decades, growing in enthusiasm about integrating the traditions of gardening, cooking, and entertaining.

Discovering a natural affinity with flowers, herbs, and other plants, she turned away from a promising career in marketing to embrace work that included a daily infusion of sun, weather, and everything green and colors in between.

Enchanted by candlelit paths through flowers and herbs at Cornell University Plantations, she returned home to take a shovel to the lawn outside her kitchen door, creating her first herb wheel and culinary garden.

Inspired by her vision and by horticulture seminars and workshops, Sulane enrolled in herbal studies courses at Cornell and also studied journalism at Elmira College. During this time she pursued her love of art and design at the Rockwell Museum in Corning, NY, delighting in the works of Taos School, the American Landscape Artists and found the paintings of Russel and Remmington especially evocative, as they conveyed the tradition of the indigenous cultures living in beauty with nature and worked with visiting artists, assisting with the museum exhibits.

Upon moving to New Hampshire, Sulane completed her landscape design certification, received her Master Gardener’s certification from University of New Hampshire (UNH), and received her Floral Design Certification from Rittners School of Floral Design in Boston, Massachusetts. She also attended New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester, NH for courses in Visual Studies and Interior Design.

As the owner of Alfresco Designs and Summer Lane Gardens, she became the artist and designer in residence at Soup Gallery in Concord NH, delighting all who stopped at her flower cart or stepped onto the patio in Capital Square.

More recently, Sulane has received her yoga teacher certification after an intense four year study of Shakti Flow Yoga, culminating in a graduation pilgrimage to India which included many ancient holy sites, motorcycling to mountaintop gardens in the Himalayans, practicing yoga on the Ganges River, and exploring the infamous “Beatles’ Ashram” in Rishikesh.

Currently she is studying the ancient practice of Herbal Medicine and working toward her certification as an Herbal Healer at Misty Meadows Herbal Center in Lee, NH.

When she has to leave her own garden, you might find her at Jacques Flower Shop sharing her unique style of living in and among flowers and gardens with the greater Manchester community. Upstairs at Girard at Large, The Garden Goddess gratefully shares her unique flare for life and the culinary arts to anyone who may tune in to listen.

Sulane adores her growing children, showing her love by including them in wild-crafting (lets go hiking and find wild plants we can eat), preparing sumptuous meals (taste testing for the show), and exploring museums with historic gardens). Sulane believes her mother is the wisest woman she knows but Mother Nature is the wisest of all. Very involved with civic and community associations, Sulane has been a long-time stay at home mom, and has chaperoned every field trip from maple sugaring to the Isle of Shoals.  Currently twirling thru the garden in search of recipes for The Garden Goddess Cooks on Girard At Large, Sulane has shared her passion and knowledge as a plant listener and hostess extraordinaire with friends, family and the community from her native California to her present home in New Hampshire.